The first measure applies up to July 2010 and is aimed at increasing the possibilities to carry back tax losses of tax year 2008 against taxable profits of 2007. To be able to utilize the carry back (up to an amount of 80 percent of the loss), normally the 2008 corporate income tax return should be filed and a final 2007 corporate income tax assessment should have been imposed by the Dutch tax authorities. These obligations are for now relaxed. Instead, only a preliminary 2007 corporate income tax assessment should have been imposed by the tax authorities and preliminary 2008 financial/tax accounts should be sent to the tax authorities together with the request for the carry back. As a result the carry back tax amount can be received much earlier.

By the end of April 2009, Dutch companies that are subject to VAT will receive a notification from the tax authorities that as per 1 July 2009 they will be allowed to switch from filing monthly VAT returns to filing quarterly VAT returns. If a company is in a net VAT paying position this may lead to a cash flow advantage.

In addition the Dutch state secretary recently announced that the Dutch tax authorities will be lenient to companies when collecting taxes. This idea has not yet been formalised, but is likely to be worked-out on short notice. We will keep you up to date on any developments in this respect.